


Someone To Stay

by 2012bookworm



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-04 03:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16338752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2012bookworm/pseuds/2012bookworm
Summary: “Why the hell were you yelling at Bitty?” Nursey asks as he stomps into their room, “And what the hell are you listening to?”





	Someone To Stay

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the Vancouver Sleep Clinic song of the same name.

“Why the hell were you yelling at Bitty?” Nursey asks as he stomps into their room, opening his mouth to continue what is sure to be an obnoxiously long tirade, before stopping to register the music Will’s blasting full volume from their shared Bluetooth speaker. “And what the hell are you listening to?”

Will sighs and closes his textbook.  He honestly expected someone to confront him sooner.  But he figured it would be Chowder, which would be easier, in a lot of ways.  Chowder would be disappointed, but he’d let it go.  Nursey won’t.  And Nursey lives with him.  It’s worked out ok so far, contrary to all expectations, but Will’s still half-terrified he’ll do something to break their fragile truce.  He doesn’t _think_ this will be it, but then again Nursey’s only just walked in to the room.

“Vancouver Sleep Clinic. And I’m going to apologize as soon as he gets back.  And do all the dishes.  Possibly for the next week.”

“It sounds like something I would like, but I really, really don’t,” Nursey says, apparently still stuck on Will’s music, which, to be fair, doesn’t sound like his normal stuff.  Nursey’s eyes narrow.  “Tell me something only Dex would know.”

“Um, you notch egg-carrying female lobsters?”  Will manages, blinking at the abrupt shift in conversation. He wishes Nursey would just get on with the yelling already.  “Why?”

“Good, you’re not a clone.”

Will gapes.  “What the hell?  Why would I be a clone?  Where did you even get that idea?”  He feels weirdly offended.  “And, and, how would me knowing about lobsters prove I wasn’t one?  You can look that shit up on the internet!”

“Ok, one, who the hell looks up lobster facts on the internet, two, this is not normal Dex music, and three, you yelled at Bitty.”  Nursey crosses his arms.  “Clone imposter seemed a reasonable explanation.”

“That’s not – _clones_ are never –“ Will doesn’t even know where to start. “No.  Just, no.”

Nursey throws his hands up. “Not the point! You yelled at Bitty!”

Yeah, yeah, he had, and he doesn’t really have an excuse.  Not that it would matter if he did.  Even if it just sort of… came out.  Bitty didn’t seem too upset, at least.  Just patted him on the head and gave him one of those sympathetic smiles.  He knew the team wouldn’t be so forgiving.

“I know.  Ok?  I know. And I’m going to apologize.  Soon as he gets back.”  He doesn’t know what else he can do.

“Fine.”  Judging by Nursey’s mulish expression, that’s not quite good enough, but he’s, shockingly, willing to let it go for now.  “Seriously bro, what  _is_ this?” He jerks his head towards the speaker.

Will shrugs.  “They’re good.  I like them.  And you don’t get to judge.”

“It’s just…”

“What?  Not dad-rock?  Or country-folk?”  Will rolls his eyes.  “You don’t know everything about me, Nurse.”

It comes out more bitter than he means, and he knows he should feel bad about that.  He’s just so  _tired_.  A bone-deep weariness that comes from the mix of guilt and fear that’s been curdling in his stomach for far too long, from waiting for someone to come ream him out. He’s not in the mood to deal with Nursey making fun of music that he finds weirdly soothing and that he half-figured Nursey might even enjoy.  Sometimes, it feels like he can’t enjoy anything without being chirped about it. Sometimes, he feels like his whole existence is a joke.

It sucks, some days more than others.

Nursey raises an eyebrow and turns to leave.  Will loses some of the tension in his shoulders.  It’s over, done, he can go back to numbers that make sense, stop worrying that this argument he’ll blurt out something unforgivable.

Nursey stops before he reaches the door and spins back around.  “No, you know what?  I don’t get it.”

“I’m not talking about this,” Will growls, deliberately re-opening his textbook.  Nursey listens to weird shit all the time, he does not get to judge.

“No, not –“ Nursey waves his hand around, “ – not the music.  Bitty.  I don’t get it.  Me, yes, Shitty, sometimes, Holster, Ollie and Wicks, but you never yell at Bitty or Ford. Or Chowder really, except during video games.  So why?”

Which is true, when he thinks about it.  Maybe he has better control of his temper than he thought.  Except he obviously doesn’t, cause he yelled at Bitty, even if he didn’t mean to, even if wasn’t what he wanted.  And Nursey’s looking at him, waiting but he doesn’t know how to explain why, not really, not without revealing parts of himself that he’d rather keep hidden. But Nursey’s eyes hold such faith, and he’s waiting, actually listening, like he knows there’s a reason, and that’s a new thing, him not assuming the worst, and it’s something Will would like to keep if he can.  So he’ll try.

“I just got a little possessive, ok?” He scrubs a hand over his face.  “I – you know those movies you watch as a kid, _Stand by Me, Sandlot_ , stuff like that, how the main character always ends up with this group of friends, this sort of, of brotherhood around him?  I – I wasn’t the most sociable kid, growing up, and it wasn’t like I didn’t have friends, but I never had _that_ , you know?  I was always the odd guy out, it felt like.  The third wheel friend.  And then I got here, and at first it was still sort of like that, but now it isn’t, but Bitty’s off and making new friends, and in my experience when my friends make new friends I get relegated to back-up friend, and I knew it was going to happen sooner or later, I mean everyone’s going to graduate and drift apart, but I wasn’t _ready_ yet, to – to be _that_ again,  so I got a little… loud.”

He can feel his blush deepening as Nursey just stares at him, jaw slack and eyebrows raised.  That was… way more than he meant to say.  He ducks his head, rubs at the back of his neck.

“So, yeah,” he manages, deciding the best idea is to go back to his assignment and just forget this ever happened. 

He’s halfway turned when Nursey blurts out, “Wow, abandonment issues much?”

“I don’t have abandonment issues,” he mutters, completing his turn because he _doesn’t,_ that’s not what this is, and yep, ignoring everything from the last few minutes is definitely the best option.

Unfortunately, Nursey doesn’t agree.  He scrambles over to the desk and ends up all but sitting on Will’s homework in his efforts to make eye contact, which is way too far into Will’s personal space for either of them to be comfortable.  Not that this is a deterrent, apparently.

“No, dude, sorry, that came out sounding much more flippant than I meant, it’s just, wow, I, um, uh – “

“Don’t hurt yourself,” Will says bitterly.  He pushes himself away from the desk.  If Nursey won’t read the obvious signals to go away, he’ll have to be the one to leave. Nursey means well, but the bumbling makes Will feel like some sort of freak, someone outside the normal modes of human interaction, like he did far too often growing up.  Considering everything he just half-confessed, the reminder isn’t helping.  “I’m…” He throws a thumb over his shoulder and heads for the door.

***

It takes Nursey a surprisingly short amount of time to find him, not that he was really trying to hide. He raises an eyebrow when he spots Nursey striding towards the bench he’s claimed.  Nursey grimaces at the wordless question.

“Louis saw you on his way back from class.”  He fidgets, takes a step closer.  “I – can we just agree that I sort of suck at emotional shit, especially with you, and that I’m sorry?”

Will sighs.  “You don’t have to apologize.  It’s not – I’m just in a mood, or something, didn’t feel like being chirped.”

Because it isn’t Nursey’s fault that the new school year has him feeling too tight in his skin.

“But I – Can I sit?” Nursey asks.  Will nods towards the space next to him.  Nursey sinks down and starts twisting his fingers together. “I wasn’t exactly joking, though. Or I wasn’t trying to?  That – what you said –”

“Ignore it,” Will interrupts, “It’s not important.”

“But it kind of is?  I feel like?”  Nursey takes a deep breath.  “I mean, you made some fundamentally wrong assumptions in there, like real bad, I mean, you think graduating’s gonna get you away from us? Have you met us?  Holster calls everyone once a week, which is more than I call my _mother_ most of the time. Chowder’s the king of Instagram messaging.  Shitty’s down here, like, all the time.  There’s no escape.”  He knocks their shoulders together.  “And, well, I’m pretty sure it’s a rule that once you room together in college you become life buds.”

And that’s… something. A declaration.  Will’s not quite sure of what, but it’s reassuring nonetheless.

“You sure you want to be stuck with me that long?”  Will asks, trying to come off flippant.  He doesn’t quite manage it, but he gets close.

Nursey huffs, grins.  “I mean, this is all assuming we survive the year. Jury’s still out.”  But the look Will gets says it’s not, not really, that Nursey’s already decided.  And he’s stubborn enough, they’re both stubborn enough, that this time it just might stick.  Nursey stands, reaches a hand out to him.  “Ready to go back to the Haus?”

“Yeah.”  Will takes it, lets Nursey help him up.  “I need to finish cleaning the kitchen before Bitty gets back anyway.”

Maybe it’s not true, maybe whatever ties that bind them will break sooner or later, or get stretched from the passage of time, but for at least a little while Will lets himself believe that those he cares for won’t forget or leave him behind.

It’s a start.


End file.
